Best Qld Origin Side - Your Thoughts

[The Fisherman]

1. Slater
2.boyd
3.Meninga
4. Renouf
5. Close
6 Lewis (c)
7. Langer
8. Beetson
9. C.Smith
10. Webke
11. G. Larson
12 Tallis
13. B Lindner
14. Lockyer
15. M Scott
16. Civeniceva
17. G Miles
18th man T Gilmeister
water boys Billy Moore & P Vautin
Press spokesman and coach W Bennett
Referee The "Great" Barry Gomersal

Yes the Grasshopper has to be the referee

 

[Xzei]

Thing with lewis us you could pick him anywhere outside of prop fullback and wing imo,if you want him in your side play him at lock

 

[The Fisherman]

Marty Bella (c)

I was going to put Marty in my starting side and move Petro to the bench, he was a very old fashioned prop and always played his heart out for Qld, has a tremendous work ethic, although he couldn't fight


muchhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfpnqK_Ezs8

 

[The Fisherman]

 

[Thelmus]

Thing with lewis us you could pick him anywhere outside of prop fullback and wing imo,if you want him in your side play him at lock

Yeah you could but i grew up with him terrorising an entire state 3 times a year and couldnt imagine anyone else there. He was like Hulk Hogan and his flair and superman in a moroon (always "marone" to me) suit combined into one.
In all honesty lockyer deserves to be there, but no dominated an origin like lewis and 5/8 is where he did it from.
Likewise you could make an argument for thureson to be there and you wouldnt be wrong. Its just those player epitimise origin for me.
I left both thureson and gillet out and they are both great by anyone's measure but langer is the greatest halfback i have seen play for Qld with the ability to turn the game in a single play. Tallis is in for his inspirational leadership whilst Larson was machine pretending to be human. He must have been to do the work he did.
Close is on the wing because he is spirit of qld but meninga and renouf hold their own. You could swap either renouf or Close for Inglis and again I wouldnt disagree.

 

[The Fisherman]

Yeah you could but i grew up with him terrorising an entire state 3 times a year and couldnt imagine anyone else there. He was like Hulk Hogan and his flair and superman in a moroon (always "marone" to me) suit combined into one.
In all honesty lockyer deserves to be there, but no dominated an origin like lewis and 5/8 is where he did it from.
Likewise you could make an argument for thureson to be there and you wouldnt be wrong. Its just those player epitimise origin for me.
I left both thureson and gillet out and they are both great by anyone's measure but langer is the greatest halfback i have seen play for Qld with the ability to turn the game in a single play. Tallis is in for his inspirational leadership whilst Larson was machine pretending to be human. He must have been to do the work he did.
Close is on the wing because he is spirit of qld but meninga and renouf hold their own. You could swap either renouf or Close for Inglis and again I wouldnt disagree.

This Choppy Close

 

[The Fisherman]

Yeah you could but i grew up with him terrorising an entire state 3 times a year and couldnt imagine anyone else there. He was like Hulk Hogan and his flair and superman in a moroon (always "marone" to me) suit combined into one.
In all honesty lockyer deserves to be there, but no dominated an origin like lewis and 5/8 is where he did it from.
Likewise you could make an argument for thureson to be there and you wouldnt be wrong. Its just those player epitimise origin for me.
I left both thureson and gillet out and they are both great by anyone's measure but langer is the greatest halfback i have seen play for Qld with the ability to turn the game in a single play. Tallis is in for his inspirational leadership whilst Larson was machine pretending to be human. He must have been to do the work he did.
Close is on the wing because he is spirit of qld but meninga and renouf hold their own. You could swap either renouf or Close for Inglis and again I wouldnt disagree.

Thanks for the reminder Thelmus, I was going to have Wendel in my side but you changed my mind, Choppy Close was the epitome of what State of Origin was all about, I will give myself an uppercut and arsehole Wendel for Choppy.

 

[The Fisherman]

Thanks to everyone for their input, for what its worth these are my picks and the referee has to be Barry " The Grasshopper" Gommersal.

1. Darren Lockyer
2. Mick Hancock
3. Steve Renouf
4. Gene Miles
5. Chris Close
6. Wally Lewis
7. Allan Langer
8. Shane Webcke
9. Cameron Smith
10. Petero Civoneceva
11. Gordon Tallis
12. Garry Larson
13. Dallas Johnson
14. Kevin Walters
15. Steve Price
16. Brad Thorn
17.Corey Parker

 

[Big Pete]

Slater was no doubt an exceptional talent who revolutionised the fullback position and was elite in many facets of the game BUT a lot of his play revolved around supporting and working off opportunities / execution by others... Would Slater have been as electric if he didn't play his entire career with playmakers like Smith, Cronk and Thurston creating space, setting up plays and facilitating opportunities? In my opinion, probably not.

Lockyer was the main man. He was the playmaker and he created opportunities out of nothing in key moments from both fullback and from 5/8. He was also a passionate captain and leader and figurehead for every team he played - from Broncos to Australia. He took poor teams and single handedly elevated everyone around him. Slater was excellent absolutely, but Lockyer is a through and through legend at 2 positions and as a captain.

I understand the sentiment that Lockyer can't be the 6 due to Wally (I'm too young to ever have watched him play), but there is absolutely no justification or realistic way that Slater could be picked over Lockyer at fullback.

I think where the difference of opinion is happening is that some people are looking at it purely on the player. Whereas I'm judging it by the position, and Billy played nearly twice the amount of games at fullback and was a pivotal part of the dynasty.

I don't think Slater had a series as good as Lockyer's 2001, but based on their entire careers at Origin level, Slater proved he was the better fullback for the Maroons.

 

[GCBRONCO]

1. Billy Slater
2. Dale Shearer
3. Greg Inglis
4. Mal Meninga
5. Justin Hodges
6. Darren Lockyer
7. Allan Langer
8. Shane Webcke
9. Cameron Smith
10. Petero Civoniceva
11. Gorden Tallis
12. Gene Miles
13. Wally Lewis(C)

14. Johnathan Thurston
15. Martin Bella
16. Steve Price
17. Trevor Gillmeister